The full Cardiff Champions League dossier and the wonderful gestures sent by Real Madrid and Juventus to say thank you

One week on and Wales is still buzzing from the warm glow of staging such a successful Uefa Champions League final.

Real Madrid and Juventus, amongst the biggest clubs in world football, have been in touch with the FA of Wales this week to thank Cardiff for such a fantastic experience.

UEFA powerbrokers have also outlined how bowled over they were by the whole occasion, while numbers we reveal today prove participation levels from the Welsh public over the four days building up to the final eclipsed records from previous venues such as Wembley, Milan and Berlin.

It was so successful there is even talk about Euro 2020 matches suddenly coming to the magnificent Principality Stadium.

Alan Hamer was Project Director who spent two years painstakingly organising the world's biggest club match for Cardiff 2017. Here in this in-depth interview he reflects upon the event in what can be termed the Cardiff Champions League dossier.

These are Hamer's own words...

THE WELSH VISION AND SLOGAN

"We had a three-pronged vision," says Hamer. "1: Engage a nation 2: Deliver the best experience 3: Leave a lasting legacy.

Well I feel we delivered on the three counts and throughout the four days, from the Champions League Festival down Cardiff Bay through to the final itself, we gave everyone a warm Welsh welcome.

On point one we got as many people involved as possible from throughout Wales, as figures I will come on to amply demonstrate.

On point two the UEFA hierarchy were happy. On point three, the FAW wanted the experience and publicity to leave Welsh football in a stronger position. I'd like to think we have done that, with more youngsters wanting to play, coach or referee."